The Prancing Beast Traveling Circus

         My eyes fluttered open.  Everything around me was hazy.  I blinked a few times to clear my vision.  Standing over me was a short, stocky man.  Salt and pepper hair circled his head and his beard was long and bushy.
         “You okay?”
         I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  I licked my lips, hoping that the moisture would somehow make me able to reply.
         The dwarf of a man grinned, reminding me of the Cheshire cat.  “Must be a wee bit thirsty.  Anyone would be after the news you were just given.”  He looked behind him.  “Lucky, go get the girl some water and a chair.”
         The one named Lucky dashed away before I could get a good look at him, so I turned my attention back to the dwarf.
         “What was your name again?”  I glared at him, which made him chuckle heartily.  “Only joking, Miss.  One needs a good laugh after finding out one’s soul had been sold to a ring master of a circus.  Sad business really.  Your parents must have really been bad off when you were born.  Ah, here you are.”  He handed me a small glass of water which I drank quickly.  “Set the chair down, Lucky.”
         I turned my head as the skinniest, tallest young man set a plush chair off to one side of me.  He smiled shyly at me before heading off again.
         “Let’s sit you up on this chair here.”
         “Who are you?”  I whispered as he pulled me off the hay strewn floor and sat me on the chair.
         “The name’s Duff.”
         “Where am I?”
         “You, my dear, are in the main tent of The Prancing Beast’s traveling circus.”
         “Circus?  Like elephants, lion tamers, and clowns,” my voice trailed off so that the word clown was barely audible.
         “Sorry, I didn’t catch the last part.”  Duff leaned in closer to me.
         “I said clowns.”
         He smiled.  “Ah yes.  You’d know about them, wouldn’t you?  All the non-freaks get that job.  Lucky for you.”
         “What?”  My heart hit the floor as I looked down at myself.  I was wearing something bright blue and yellow.  I knew it had to be a costume.  The color drained from my face as my hands roamed up to my head where curly hair met with my fingers.  I snatched the wig from my head.  Of course, it was bright red and looked like an afro.
         “No.”  I shook my head as I stood.  “No, no, no, no!”  I threw the wig to the floor.  “Absolutely not.”  I unzipped the costume and left it on the floor as I headed towards the tent flap that would lead to my freedom.
         “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Duff called from the chair I had been sitting on.
         I ignored him.  I was leaving this freak fest and no one was going to stop me.  I got to the flap, opened it , stepped out into the fresh air, then I was back in the tent on the opposite side I had left from.
         “Are you kidding me?”
         I ran towards the exit, but the same thing happened when I stepped outside the tent.  I tried all I could think of to get out, but nothing I did could keep me outside of the circus tent.  I fell to my knees on my last try, tears streaming down my cheeks.  Lucky knelt down beside me, offering me a handkerchief which I accepted gratefully.  Duff placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
         “Why can’t I leave?”
         “All contracts state that once a person joins The Prancing Beast, they can only leave if the ring master grants them leave or if the ring master dies without appointing an apprentice.”
         I dabbed the last tear from my cheek as I looked From Duff, to Lucky, to the rest of the creatures and people inside the tent.  We were all stuck here.  Caged like animals in a zoo.  The only way out was to get rid of the ring master, so the circus life would have to be mine for a while until I figured out a plan.  The perfect plan.